A Tale of Two Tragedies
by PhantasmalEminence
Summary: Feeling guilty over betraying her friend, Hinamori randomly chooses a city and takes a walk. There, she meets a stranger who tells her a story of love, war, and tragedy. What will his story do for her?


**Authors note: **I am really mad at Bleach right now, but I am writing it based on the events of the Winter War (back when I thought it was good). One more thing, Francis Bonnefoy ftw!

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So much has happened in the past couple months that put Soul Society in turmoil: the revelation of Ichigo Kurosaki, Rukia Kuchiki's capture, and Aizen's betrayl. Now, it was complete and utter chaos. The traitor's plans were revealed to kill the Soul King, and they needed as much powerful members as possible to stop him. All the captains and lieutenants were ready to go. Well, all except one.

"Lieutenant Hinamori," Head Captain Yamamoto said sternly, causing the girl to turn to his attention with a frightened look upon her face. "If you are not ready to fight him, then don't come. I do not want you to falter."

Not knowing what to say, Hinamori simply nodded her head, and they headed our without her. She did not know what to do. Aizen had been her everything for such a long time. She devoted her life to him. She followed him with such devotion, so much so that she was willing to kill her friend for him. That man was truly awful. He dared to leave without giving her an answer. He dared to leave her nothing in his wake. Now, she could not face anybody anymore. They all know what she did.

Hinamori shook her head in anguish. She needed to take some time away from all this if she was going to make a sure decision. She opened a random portal and leapt through the doors. The place she ended up was extravagant, to say the least. The architecture was filled with tall buildings, and there was a tower composed of iron that could be seen no matter where she was.

The sky was dark, and the clocks atop the buildings read 12:15. The city seemed to be six hours behind Japan's time. Why she paid any attention at all to the time was beyond her. It was not like the time was something important. Deciding that walking amidst the city was not doing her any good, Hinamori flew towards the tower that she kept seeing.

She landed at the top and looked at the view. The cold breeze and high elevation was not doing her body any justice, but at least she could see the lights that circled the area. While lost in thought, she did not see a hollow behind her. Out of nowhere, she felt herself being swatted across the tower.

Looking up, Hinamori saw the hollow leering above her. Prepared to fight, she put her hand on the hilt of her sword. The hollow saw this and lunged at her. Just as the lieutenant drew her sword, someone else stepped in front of her, getting a chunk of his back torn out.

"Sir!" Hinamori screamed, flash stepping in front of the hollow's face, cutting its mouth. The man that stepped in front of her pulled off the hollow's leg, and looked like he was going to kill the creature.

"Stop!" Hinamori commanded. "I have to be the one to kill it because my sword will purify the soul! If you kill it, the soul's reincarnation chances will be cut off and it'll cease to exist!" The man opened his eyes in surprise, and stopped, allowing her to finish the job.

As soon as she was done with the hollow, Hinamori sheathed her sword and ran to the man. "Sir don't worry! I will have you healed in no time!" She stopped as she saw the previous gaping wound was no longer there. "Huh?"

"Do not be alarmed," the man said. "This is a normal thing for me."

"What are you?" Hinamori asked.

"What are you?" the man said back.

"I asked you first!"

"Does it matter who asked first? As long as both questions are answered, what's the point in arguing about who asked first?"

Seeing that there was no point in arguing, Hinamori responded, "My name is Hinamori, and I am a soul reaper. I help the souls find their way to Soul Society, where they will reside and reincarnate."

"I am a country, and I represent France," France replied to her. "But please call me Francis."

"A country?" I never knew those existed in human forms!" Hinamori exclaimed.

Francis simply chuckled, "Well, nowadays, we do not allow humans to know we exist, simply because we were harassed by them to make changes that we had no power to do. Now, my dear, what are you doing here?"

"I don't know. I just need a place to think."

"Then come to my house. We can talk."

At first, she was apprehensive about trusting a stranger, but she felt she could trust this man. After all, he stepped in front of a hollow to protect her.

"So, how come you can speak Japanese?" Hinamori wondered.

"I picked it up as time went on. We countries decided to learn each other's languages because we didn't want to be egocentric like our people. We wanted to communicate with each other because we are friends. Japan can speak French as well."

"There's a Japan?" Hinamori exclaimed. "I wonder if he remembers me!"

"I'm not sure if he does, mon ami. We usually don't remember the mortals that we have never met. The only ones we remember are the ones we have talked to more than once, and that's only if they were really impressionable."

Francis brought out some pastries and tea for his guest to enjoy. Usually, he would not bring outside guests into his home, but there was something about this girl that reminded him of himself.

"May I ask what you were thinking about?"

Initially wanting to keep it a secret, Hinamori opened her mouth to tell him she did not want to talk about it, but the words that came out were completely different. "I made a huge mistake. I betrayed my childhood friend for a superior. An idol." Where did that come from? She wanted to stop right there, but Francis's charming and curious face made her go on.

"I was really devoted to this guy, and I tried to kill my best friend because that was what the death wish letter said. But it turns out, this guy was not dead, and he almost killed me and my friend. I dared to ask my friend to save him. Even now, I'm not sure I want to fight in this war. I'm just so lost!" Hinamori began crying. It was embarrassing to cry in front of a stranger.

Francis frowned and handed the crying girl a box of tissues. Though he felt bad for her, it confirmed that his intuition was right. She was a lot like him in a way. Hinamori took the tissues gratefully and absorbed all her tears in them.

"Do you mind if I tell you a story?" Francis asked to which he earned a nod. "Have you ever heard about the Hundred Years War?"

"We don't learn human history at the academy," Hinamori sniffed.

"Then I'll give you a brief lesson of it," Francis smiled, walking towards his window and looking at the lit up city. "It was a war between England and France. In the beginning, the war was not in France's favor. England was very strong, and the French army lost almost every battle."

At this point, Hinamori stopped crying to ask "Why are you telling me a story of your war? Is it to tell me whether I should fight in mine or not?"

"Not necessarily tell you, but it'll help you make a decision. Can I continue with my story?"

"Um..yes! I'm so sorry for interrupting!" Hinamori bowed.

France rolled his eyes playfully. She was just like Kiku with the whole manners thing.

"With everything looking so bleak, I thought I was going to die. But then, God bestowed a gift upon France. A girl came sailing with the wind. She said that God gave her the order to save France. Her name was Jeanne d'Arc. Since I am the personification of France, she and I fought together. We spent a lot of time by each other's side."

Hinamori saw that look on his face. The way he talked about this girl, and the way he looked while doing it made it obvious that she was special to him. "Did you love her, Francis? Was she one of the mortals you remember?"

"Yes, she is. And yes, I did love her. She did a lot for me. She brought back the king, released New Orleans, and held Charles VII's coronation. She did this all in four months too."

"Wow! She's really amazing! If only we had someone like that to fight for us."

"She was really amazing. But in the end, it just wouldn't work. England captured her, and he burned her at the stake. The King abandoned her, and no one went to save her. Not even me. I think that day was May 30th, 1431."

Hinamori's eyes slowly widened as she came to a realization. Francis felt like he was the one that killed her by not defying his king and rescuing her. Sure he knew that all mortals would eventually have to die, but for her to die so tragically was too much for him.

"I never got to see her in her dying moments. I never got to tell her how much she meant to me, and how sorry I am for abandoning her. Hinamori, do you understand why I told you this story now?"

"I do," she nodded. "You told me that story because we both chose our leaders over someone that was precious to us."

"That's right," Francis smiled. "But you have a chance to fix your mistake. Even if your friend dies in this war, you can tell him that you are sorry, and how much he means to you. I told you this story to save you from making the same mistake I did."

Hinamori stood up and bowed to Francis, who in turn bowed back. "Thank you, Francis." She hugged him before leaving.

Racing back to her headquarters, Hinamori grabbed her lieutenant's arm band and tied it to her arm. She will fight in the war against Aizen, and she will do it as a strong leader to her squad.

"I am coming, Soul Society," she whispered, opening the portal. "I am coming, Toshiro," she finished before jumping through.

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**Authors note:** Though Bleach is currently my guilty pleasure, I still love HitsuHina. All that aside, I felt that France and his betrayal of Jeanne would be a story for Hinamori, who feels guilty over betraying Hitsugaya.

I do make it so citizens don't know about the countries because think about it. If your country had a personification and you weren't happy with the standing of the country, wouldn't you harass them to make changes? Well…maybe us fans wouldn't, but the other people would. Plus, the countries appear to be walking around as if they were people. I know a normal person's grandfather got a picture taken with France, but he did not seem to know about France until he got a job as what appeared to be a soldier.


End file.
